There's no stopping the fastest man in football, Rotherham United's Chiedozie Ogbene

The flying winger was on the verge of a comeback after damaging his hamstring on his Rotherham United debut and being out for six weeks. He was back in full training at the club’s Roundwood headquarters and manager Warne and assistant boss Barker were keen observers. “I’m thinking of putting him on the bench on Saturday,” Warne said. “I’m not sure,” replied Barker. “Is he quite ready?” Since that debate Ogbene, signed in the summer from Championship side Brentford, has gone on to play a major part in the Millers’ rise to the summit of League One. At his best, he has wreaked havoc down both flanks with his searing speed. Around 10.7 seconds or even quicker for 100 metres, in case you’re wondering. “Pace is pace,” said the wide man who is a certain starter at home to Bristol Rovers this weekend. “You have to use it if you have it.” Ogbene arrived in August and Warne and his staff, while loving how rapid the 22-year-old is, immediately set about changing the new recruit’s ways. “He is good when he listens to us,” the manager said. “He came in from a club who play a different style to us. “We have been trying to chisel that out of him because we don’t expect our wide men to come inside the pitch and play sideways and backwards and into a 10. “That is not a criticism of Brentford, by the way. Their play is unbelievable. It’s just not the way we play at this club. “What I do expect from my wide men is for them to run up and down a train line and cross the ball.” Rotherham destroyed Oxford United in the first half at the Kassam Stadium last weekend to move into top spot with a 3-1 victory and the U’s had no answer to Ogbene’s lightning right-wing raiding. “I think the penny has been dropping with him lately,” Warne said. “He has been excellent. I thought in the last game he was unplayable.” Meanwhile, back in the autumn, with a tough trip to Blackpool looming, Barker was still undecided about Ogbene’s recovery from a hamstring tear. The player might need one more week, he thought. He and Warne carried on watching. Ogbene broke records at Griffin Park as speed tests showed he was the quickest player the Bees had ever had on their books and the forward reckons he’s even more fleet-footed now. “I can’t think of anyone as fast as him,” Warne said. “The thing with him is that he doesn’t just run quick, he runs a lot. That’s because wingers for me have the job of coming back as well. “There were loads of clips of him from the recent Peterborough United game pressing the ball out of possession which were unbelievable. “It is not just that his top speed is impressive, it’s also that his body is able to recover and go again. “I played with Lee Morris at Yeovil Town and he was rapid and powerful, but Chieo is definitely the quickest I’ve ever seen.” The boss, always looking for a laugh, thought back to his own Millers playing and teammate Chis Swailes, a centre-half as hard and commanding as he was slow ... “Well, him and Swaz!” Ogbene, who joined the Millers on a three-year deal, is even making his weaknesses work in his favour. “One of the good things about Chieo is that sometimes his second touch is so bad he sort of tempts the defender into thinking he can get there and then Chieo still gets there first,” Warne said. “Sometimes it looks like the ball is going to hit the advertising hoardings, the opposition relax in the box and then he gets there. He’s got it on lockdown. “He is the nicest kid in the world. He is trying to improve and has worked really hard on his crossing. “I didn’t think his crossing was great when he came here. Hammy (coach Matt Hamshaw) has done a lot of work with him, telling him just to put it in an area, and that has helped him significantly. “If Chieo continues in the form he is in he will be a hard one to keep hold of, I think.” Since his hamstring issue, Ogbene has appeared in every match bar one — the 3-2 November 23 triumph at MK Dons which he missed through suspension — and this weekend’s Rovers clash will be his sixth successive start Two days before the speed machine would cause panic in the Blackpool rearguard as a second-half substitute in a 2-1 October 12 Millers win, Barker continued to advise caution at Roundwood. Then he and Warne saw the winger suddenly turn on the turbo and burn past full-back Matt Olosunde, himself one of the quickest players in the division. “Yep,” said the number two, turning to the number one. “Put him in.”